City boss Tony Pulis has made three changes to the line-up for tonight's Barclays Premier League clash with Sunderland.

Skipper Abdoulaye Faye returns to the heart of the defence to partner Ryan Shawcross with Danny Higginbotham moving back out to left back in place of Danny Collins.

Salif Diao is also back in the centre of midfield with former Black Cats captain Dean Whitehead moving out to play in the wide right position; Rory Delap is dropped to the bench.

Up front, and Pulis has opted to recall Tuncay to partner Mamady Sidibe following his rest against Arsenal with Ricardo Fuller now amongst the substitutes.

Coverage of tonight's game is already underway on Stoke City Player while stokecityfc.com will bring you live minute-to-minute updates from 7.50pm.

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Gordon; Mensah, Turner, Kilgallon, McCartney; Malbranque, Cana (c), Cattermole, Reid; Jones, Bent. Subs: Fulop (gk), Bardsley, Zenden, Campbell, Henderson, Meyler, Da Silva.

CITY (4-4-2): Sorensen; Huth, Shawcross, Abdoulaye Faye (c), Higginbotham; Whitehead, Diao, Whelan, Etherington; Sidibe, Tuncay. Subs: Simonsen, Lawrence, Beattie, Fuller, Collins, Delap, Wilkinson.